New York Pioneered Passage Of Belt Laws Across The Country

When New York became the first state in the country to pass a mandatory seat-belt law in June 1984, the law`s principal sponsor accurately predicted the future.

``New York state`s passage of a mandatory seat-belt law will have national ramifications by ... (being) the catalyst for other states to pass this life- saving legislation,`` said New York state Sen. Norman Levy.

It was as if Levy, a Republican from Long Island and chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee, had a crystal ball.

Since then, 25 states and the District of Columbia have passed laws that require at least the driver and all front-seat passengers in a motor vehicle to wear seat belts.

Levy and others compared this snowball effect to what happened in the national campaign to require child safety seats. On Jan. 1, 1978, Tennessee became the first state to require children to be strapped into a protective seat while riding in a car. By 1985 every state in the country had such a law.

``The seat-belt law is just like the child seat. Once it catches on there is momentum built up. The other states have it. It`s a life-saving law. We ought to have it,`` said Hal Paris, spokesman for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in Washington, D.C.

Florida hopped on the bandwagon when the state Legislature passed a mandatory seat-belt law on May 28. The law goes into effect Tuesday. Delaware, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island are considering similar laws, Paris said.

New York`s law went into effect on Dec. 1, 1984. After a one-month grace period, New Yorkers either buckled up or faced the risk of being fined as much as $50.

Paul Petrov, a New York City business executive, was one of the tens of thousands who began complying.

``Because it was the law. It wasn`t really (out of) fear (of injury). I obey the law,`` Petrov said. ``I think it is safer to wear a seat belt. I feel more secure when driving.``

New York officials said they were pleased with the life-saving effects of the law.

In 1985, 1,108 people died on New York state roads, a 17 percent decrease from the previous five-year average.

Gov. Mario Cuomo said the new mandatory seat-belt law was one of the four reasons for the sharp decrease in traffic fatalities.

``I made a prediction that in a few years we`d all wonder what the controversy was,`` said Anthony Mingione, a member of Cuomo`s traffic safety committee, referring to the fact that it took the New York state legislature 11 years to pass the law.

Following New York`s lead, Illinois, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, North Carolina and Texas passed seat-belt laws in 1985. In those seven states, plus New York, there were 280 fewer front-seat traffic fatalities in the last three months of 1985 than in the corresponding period in 1984.

The effect of a seat-belt law, at least in part, is determined by how many people comply.

Compliance with New York`s law peaked soon after the law went into effect, Mingione said, with 69 percent buckling up. However, by September 1985 -- nine months after a driver or passenger could be ticketed for not wearing a seat belt -- the compliance rate had dipped to 46 percent.

``When the seat-belt law was first enacted there was widespread compliance, a lot of which is attributed to the widespread publicity,`` explained Levy spokesman James Moriartycq. ``Then compliance fell off. But we must remember that before the law, compliance was minimal -- (it was 12 percent) -- so even at a low point . . . it`s at least triple what it was without the law.``

The latest poll shows that 52 percent are now buckling up. Officials acknowledge, however, that there will always be a certain percentage of the population who won`t wear seat belts.

``There`s a very strong argument about freedom to do what you want,`` Mingione said. ``It`s their body, it`s their lives. (So people have the opinion) they can do what they want in a car.``